Keife & Co: New wine shop uncorked

Keife & Co. (801 Howard Ave., 523-7272; www.keifeandco.com), a new retail shop for fine wines, liquors and specialty foods, opened on the edge of downtown in August. Business partners John Keife and Jim Yonkus had been planning Keife & Co. for several years while they worked in the retail and wholesale wine and specialty foods businesses.

"Our fundamental philosophy is to have wines that are good representations of their areas of origin," Keife says. "We're interested mainly in small producers."

The shop features wine displayed in tall, library-style wooden shelves and an assortment of cured hams, cheeses and jugs of olives placed front and center. The decor was inspired by a wine shop in Barcelona, Spain, Keife says. Specialty liquors, bitters and barware also are an important part of the operation, and products are geared toward people interested in making craft cocktails at home.

"We think the guys at Cure (the Uptown craft cocktail lounge) are doing a great job, but why isn't there something on the retail end to match that?" Keife asks.